WONDERSTRUCK

WONDERSTRUCK(*1) Was a game and creative project by Fr0st, which was developed in December 2009 as part of an "Alternate Reality Game"(1) (WONDERSTRUCK, by the same name). The game was itself a puzzle, and was designed to let players modify it in order to solve various mysteries in the game; such as finding codes, clues, and solutions to other puzzles, which could be found on a website.

WONDERSTRUCK was first released in early 2010, where Fr0st would intentionally stagger the release by putting the game files up, and then taking them down a few days later and random - before putting the files back up on a new page or platform (like mediafire, moddb, gamebanana, etc). According to Fr0st, this was done to keep the pool of players somewhat small, and to prevent "certain types of modders"(2) from hijacking or ruining the project. At one point, someone would host the files on a Half-Life 2 Beta forum, but would later take it down after Fr0st requested it. These files would have been live from 2010 to 2012 or so.

Gameplay-wise, we know it was likely built on the "Source Engine"(3), and resembled most games developed for it. (third person(*3), pre baked lighting, combat centered around guns, etc) and Utilized this for allowing users to modify and create user generated content for the game, which they could also distribute inside the game itself. The game was presented in much of the same fashion as the famous fighting game "M.U.G.E.N"(4), wherein you were able to modify Pawns and create Maps for them to battle on. We don't really know how the combat system worked however because it was rarely utilized, since this was never really focal to the point of WONDERSTRUCK.

WONDERSTRUCK's puzzle was it's main draw, with players trying to uncover a deeper meaning within the game's assets and scripting. From what we know, it was an enigmatic puzzle that required a lot of additional context to be able to solve. Though the puzzle was never solved, the solution would become known due to a controversy surrounding Fr0st.

Some time in 2011, another "High Profile Developer"(5) would formally accuse Fr0st of stealing their code and not crediting them. Fr0st denied the accusations, and had allegedly carried out a "Targeted DDOS Attack"(6) against their game servers in retaliation. True or not, this rumor would inadvertently turn his community against him, which caused tensions to rise internally with his friends whom were helping him develop the game. This came to a boiling point some time in 2012, when "One of The Developers"(7) of WONDERSTRUCK would leak the game's project files, associated documents, and solutions to various ongoing puzzles that were currently being solved.

This allegedly is what lead Fr0st to having a very public falling out, which ended with him abruptly ending the project and stepping away from the community. 

WONDERSTRUCK was eventually picked up by "One of The Investigators"(8), who decided to continue supporting the game beyond 2012 - up until it was eventually abandoned completely in 2015. It was primarily used as a small social platform, where people involved with the puzzle would do meet ups, hang out, and chat on a day by day basis. WONDERSTRUCK was essentially used as an impromptu social platform for the last few years of it's life, and we believe it would have had a peak player count of roughly 84.

Since Fr0st had long since stopped distributing the game, [OMITTED](*2) interest had died away and many resources regarding this project have long since been lost. Due to how small this project was, and how it was derailed in the ensuing drama, all we have left regarding this are reports and some witness accounts, including a member of "Project Skybox"(9) whom had participated all those years ago (but no longer has any files). Though the project was relatively small and obscure, we are very interested in finding anything related to WONDERSTRUCK, in the hopes we can potentially get it up and running again for preservation sake

This is considered a high risk for "Obfuscation"(10). If you know anything about this, have any files, or even any screenshots, please contact us.

1 - ALTERNATE REALITY GAME / (ARG) - A STYLE OF CREATIVE PROJECT, GENERALLY ON THE INTERNET, WHERE VIEWERS AND/OR PLAYERS PARTICIPATE DIRECTLY WITHIN THE PROJECT AS IF IT WAS TRULY HAPPENING IN REALITY. GENERALLY THIS IS DONE THROUGH MULTIMEDIA PUZZLES, CODE BREAKING, AND MYSTERY SOLVING

2 - FR0ST WAS CONCERNED PARTICULARLY ABOUT MEME AND "PR0N" MODS MAKING THEIR WAY IN, WHICH HE WAS HEAVILY OPPOSED TO, AND COMPLAINED AT LENGTHS ABOUT. HE FELT THEY DE-LEGITIMIZED MODDING AS AN ART, AND EVEN FELT LIKE THESE MODDERS MIGHT HAVE BEEN "GAME INDUSTRY PLANTS"

3 - SOURCE ENGINE IS A GAME ENGINE DEVELOPED AND RELEASED IN 2004 BY VALVE SOFTWARE FOR THE GAME HALF-LIFE 2

4 - "M.U.G.E.N" IS A FIGHTING GAME PLATFORM WHEREIN USERS CAN CREATE ENTIRE ROSTERS OF CUSTOM CHARACTERS TO FIGHT EACH OTHER

5 - WE KNOW WHO THIS IS BUT WE WERE REQUESTED TO NOT NAME THEM.

6 - A TARGETED DDOS ATTACK IS ESSENTIALLY ANY MEANS THAT A SERVICE IS SHUT DOWN THROUGH ILLICIT MEANS. IN THIS CASE, IT WAS VERY LIKELY THAT FR0ST USED A SMALL BOTNET TO DENY ACCESS TO GAME SERVERS VIA FLOODING THEM WITH PACKETS.

7 - WE DO NOT KNOW WHO THIS WAS, OR EXACTLY HOW MANY DEVELOPERS THERE WERE IN GENERAL - HOWEVER, WE DO KNOW THAT THIS PERSON WAS LIKELY VERY CLOSE TO THE HEART OF THE PROJECT, AND LIKELY VANISHED SOME TIME LATER.

8 - NOTE, THIS PERSON DID NOT TAKE OVER DEVELOPMENT NECESSARILY, THEY JUST HOSTED SERVERS VIA A HOME NETWORK

9 - THAT'S US, LOOK AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE

10 - OBFUSCATION IN THIS SENSE IS BEING USED TO MEAN THAT IT WILL BE LOST TO TIME FOREVER. WE DON'T BELIEVE THIS HAS HAPPENED YET, BUT WE SUSPECT THIS ENTIRE PROJECT MAY BE COMPLETELY LOST SOON WITHOUT INTERVENTION.

CORRECTIONS:

(*1) The game and project were both called WONDERSTRUCK.

(*2) There is no proof or evidence of legal threats, so we've removed this section

(*3) We've been informed that the game was 3rd person